I wanna teach poker at my college... ADVICE?!

lef1000 · #1 08-30-2006, 11:23 PM

im thinking about giving poker lessons at my college for some extra dough and charging a realy cheap rate of like $30 an hour. I would go over the basics if my student diddnt allready know the basics, and then i would start explaining strategy and position etc. I would fine tune the lessons to the persons level of experience and try to help them the best i could with real examples and plenty ]of help from some great poker books i own. I wanna do this more for fun then for actualy making money (hence why im doing it for so cheap), allthough the money part is nice.

Anyways i was wondering if this is a good idea and if it is how could i go about spreading the word that i give lessons on Hold 'em at my school. BTW if qualification are necessary ive had experience in live games mostly from $1/$2 up to $20/40 and $1/2 and $2/$4 NL. I also have experience in tourny's. Thanks for any suggestions... and please try not to flame me saying i suck and shouldnt give poker advice or something like as im only asking for $30 an hour while people who are experts charge like over a $100 an hour. [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

RED_RAIN · #2 08-30-2006, 11:29 PM

The problem arises that many in college can't afford anything that cost $30/hr. I would try a bulk $100 course over a period of a few hours. But then again, I wouldn't teach beginners and if I did, I would charge them quite a bit.

lef1000 · #3 08-30-2006, 11:31 PM

my key audience is someone who knows how to play has played a lil bit before but needs some help getting good

so do u think that something like 4 one hour sessions for $100 is a good idea?

neuroman · #4 08-31-2006, 12:53 AM

Why don't you just become a drug dealer?

TheStation · #5 08-31-2006, 01:03 AM

Wouldnt it be higher EV to spend that time playing in cash games?

Yes I realize its risk free money, but still

lef1000 · #6 08-31-2006, 01:10 AM

used to be
worekd out welll bought a motorcyle wit my money

bruin · #7 08-31-2006, 01:50 AM

dude, why would u waste time making 30/hr when you can just play poker?

ebranig · #8 08-31-2006, 03:25 AM

Why don't you become an affiliate and collect their rakeback as your payment while you teach for free.

Dromar · #9 08-31-2006, 05:27 AM

I personally enjoy teaching people how to play poker too.

Good luck with your plan, but there are quite a few obstacles I can foresee:
1. College kids are broke (mostly).
2. Most players have an ego problem that prohibits them from getting a tutor. Or, if they do get a tutor, their ego doesn't allow them to listen to your advice.
3. Credentials? Just because you've played 20/40 doesn't mean you're good. There are losing players at 20/40 and every other table in the world. I'm not saying you're bad, I'm just saying that you might have trouble proving that you're good enough to take lessons from to some of the more skeptical people. Short of a huge bankroll or a published book, I really don't know how you can prove that you're not just some punk who's full of himself.

Now to the constructive advice.

If I were going to set out to do this (which I may, actually), I would do the following:
1. Locate potential clientelle - If you live in the dorms, and practically everybody plays poker where you're from, just about anyone you meet is a potential client. But if poker isn't the daily buzz with people you encounter, you've got to look harder. As if there are any nightly/weekly games going on. Here's the tough part though; do you advertise your services to this group, or sit in and clean them out? That's your choice.
2. Advertise yourself - If you live in the dorms, again, this is easy. Just post a few professional looking ads. Don't go into too much detail, though. If they're interested, have them contact you to find out more.
3. Tutor your clients - Be professional about it. Have a schedule for your lessons beforehand, to avoid those awkward moments of silence while you try to figure out what you should do next.

That's all I can think of now. Let me know if it works.

Borodog · #10 08-31-2006, 11:39 AM

OP,

I tried this a few years back, and it didn't work out well. I got a slew of "If you think you're so good why don't you show up to our game . . . ", or "If you're so good, why aren't you living in Vegas . . . " etc. There is very little understanding that some people actually like to teach, so people think you're falling into the "Those who can't, teach" category.

You can also get in a serious twist over any flyers you might post around campus, because it is almost certain that gambling is banned on campus.

Not to be discouraging. I encourage anyone who likes poker and enjoys teaching to bring the two together. It's just not going to be easy.